Negative thoughts can slow down the recovery from depression and the reason behind this is pretty obvious. The more negative thoughts you have, the more you will stay depressed. However researchers have made the observation that it is not that people suffering from depression lack positive feelings. The only difference is that they don’t let themselves feel those positive emotions. ‘Dampening’ is the name given to the cognitive style.

CBT techniques which work against the negative thoughts of depression

As per expert therapists, you will be taught various CBT strategies which can help you fight against depression and negative thinking. Here are few strategies that you may experiment with your therapist.

Try to know about the problem and look for the solutions

If you can just talk with your therapist, this will help you reach out to the root of depression. Whenever you have an idea, you can just write it down in a sentence so that you know what’s bothering you and what the ways that can solve the issue are. For instance, if you’re someone who is suffering from loneliness, the possible actionable steps which you can try to do are joining a local club or you might try signing up with an online dating website.

Write down self-statements to counteract negativism

Once you’re done with locating the root causes of depression, you can then think of all the negative thoughts which are hampering all your positivism. Make sure you write a self-statement to counteract each thought. Whenever you feel depressed, remember the self-statements and repeat those all back to yourself. This way you can replace the negative thoughts with positive ones.

Find out new opportunities of thinking positive

How about setting a reminder on your phone where it will remind you to reframe all thoughts and make them positive? If you’re someone who enters a room and soon notices the bad color of the wall, you should possibly train yourself to find out five things that you like about the room. This way you will feel excited about being able to think positive.

Learn how to accept disheartenment

Life will always subject you to disheartening situations and it is through your response that you will know how fast you can move forward. If you wonder, ‘What’s the reason behind looking good? I am not going to meet anybody!’ this is something negative. Try and work more on what is within your control.

Therefore, now that you have an overview of CBT and how it can be used to cure depression, don’t give it a second thought. Help yourself get out of all negativity and enter positivity.